Cabinet, we refrain from indicating in any way the measures which it may see fit to take in order to comply with this wish. We rest entirely upon it for estimating the decisions which it shall deem best calculated to attain the object.

There was little in this document to arouse the susceptibilities of the nation; and the Cabinet, sensible of the justice of some of the observations contained in it, determined, without answering it officially, to introduce a measure the effect of which would be to make the crime of conspiracy to murder-which had hitherto been treated as a misdemeanour-a felony, punishable with penal servitude. Lord Palmerston's first idea was a measure to give power to the Secretary of State to send away any foreigner whom the Government might have good reason to suspect was plotting a scheme against the life of a foreign sovereign, the Government being bound to state the grounds upon which the person in question had been sent away, either to a secret committee of Parliament or to a committee composed of the three chiefs of the courts of law. This notion, however, was abandoned for the simpler form of Bill which would, it was believed, attain the object in view. The Bill, although strongly opposed, was read a first time by a majority of no less than 200. Meantime, however, events were occurring which rapidly altered the public tone. Addresses had been presented to the Emperor from members of the French army, which, while congratulating him on his escape, contained expressions and menaces but too well calculated to wound the pride and inflame the temper of the English people. Some of these French colonels '-as they were popularly designated-spoke of the English as 'protectors of assassins,' and uttered threats to the effect that 'the infamous haunt in which such infernal machinations were planned should be destroyed for ever.'

These ridiculous effusions would have passed unnoticed, unless with contempt, had not some of them, unfortunately, been inserted in the Moniteur,' the official organ of the French Government. In vain did

THE FRENCH COLONELS.

355

the ambassador, by order of his Government, express regret at their insertion and explain that it happened through inadvertence, owing to the number of addresses which, according to the usual custom, required such official notification; in vain did Lord Palmerston urge in the House that it would be unworthy of the nation to be turned from a course, otherwise proper, by the idle vapourings of irresponsible swashbucklers, and 'upon any paltry feelings of offended dignity or of irritation at the expressions of three or four colonels of French regiments, to act the childish part of refusing an important measure on grounds so insignificant and trumpery.' The nation's back was up. The House repented of its former vote, and the leader of the Opposition, who had spoken for the Bill on its first reading, joined with the other malcontents in giving it its deathblow, by supporting Mr. Milner Gibson's amendment to the question that it should be read a second time. This amendment was: That this House cannot but regret that Her Majesty's Government, previously to inviting the House to amend the law of conspiracy at the present time, have not felt it to be their duty to reply to the important despatch received from the French Government, dated January 20.'

Verbal answers, fitting both in substance and in tone, had been given to the French ambassador in London and, through Lord Cowley, to the French Cabinet at Paris; but an official despatch, in reply, had been deliberately postponed, under the conviction that in the actual temper of men's minds, no advantage, but only exasperation, would be the result of any answer which the English Foreign Office could consistently give.

Report said that Lord Derby, sitting under the gallery of the House of Commons and watching the progress of the debate, saw the turn of the tide with the quick eye of an old parliamentary tactician, and sent hasty word to his lieutenants that they should take it at the flood which led to office. Anyhow, Mr. Disraeli plunged into the stream, and, declaring that while, on the first

reading, the question was between England and France, on this the second reading, by some strange metamorphosis, it had become one between the House of Commons and the English minister, he announced that he sided with the House. Mr. Gladstone also threw in his lot with the Opposition in a powerful speech; Lord John Russell joined the Radicals; and when a division was called, Lord Palmerston's Government found itself in a minority of nineteen.

This defeat was a complete surprise. Ministers, when they went down to the House of Commons on the afternoon of this February 19, did not even anticipate a narrow division, much less a crisis. There were unseen causes, however, which had been gradually sapping Lord Palmerston's ascendency over the House of Commons. Some injudicious appointments had alienated not a few of his supporters, and his manner lately had certainly, for some reason or other, become more brusque and dictatorial than was altogether pleasing to the members. Many, however, of those who voted in the majority did not wish to overthrow his Government, and had he thought fit to appeal to the House of Commons for a vote of confidence, it would probably have accorded it, and have remained satisfied with the reply already given by the public to the denunciations of the French army. But Lord Palmerston never showed any undue tenacity in the retention of office. He at once tendered his resignation to the Queen, and persisted, although Her Majesty at first declined to accept it.

Thus Lord Palmerston, after weathering many a turbulent storm, was overthrown by a gust, and Lord Derby, being sent for, reigned in his stead. The new Premier, with a candour which was very characteristic of him, soon acknowledged the hasty and needless character of the vote which had proved fatal to his opponents, and to which he had so greatly contributed. In the House of Lords, on March 1, Lord Clarendon, who had been the Foreign Secretary of the late Government, fully vindicated their conduct; and Lord Derby,

RESIGNS OFFICE.

357 in reporting to the Queen the proceedings of the evening, said,Lord Clarendon made an admirable speech in explanation of the course which the late Government pursued, and which, had it been delivered in the House of Commons on the subject of the amendment, would probably have deprived Lord Derby of the honour of addressing your Majesty on the present occasion.'1

Martin's Life of the Prince Consort, vol. iv. p. 190.

CHAPTER XIV.

OUT OF OFFICE GOES TO COMPIÈGNE-DERBY GOVERNMENT DEFEATED ON REFORM BILL, 1859-DISSOLUTION—OUTBREAK OF FRANCO-AUSTRIAN WAR-VOTE OF WANT OF CONFIDENCE IN MINISTERS-SECOND PREMIERSHIP-ITALIAN AFFAIRS SPAIN AND

MOROCCO-FORTIFICATIONS.

JUST before his resignation, Lord Palmerston had the satisfaction of being able to announce the capture of Canton and the successful issue of his China policy. He was thus quite content to retire for awhile from the cares of office, convinced that the conduct of his Government in the matter of the attempt upon the French Emperor's life, though it involved him personally in a temporary banishment from power, had contributed to the preservation of that French alliance which it was one of his chief aims to maintain. Indeed, even after he had ceased to be responsible for the course of events, he still exerted his undoubted influence to smooth the path of his successors and to save them and the country from the consequences of a rupture with France. He writes, on March 1, to Lord Clarendon:

I am told that Persigny says that if the Derby Government drop the Murder Bill he will be immediately recalled. It would be most unfortunate that the diplomatic relations of the two countries should be broken off on such a ground. Such a rupture would justly incense the British nation, would make any measure in the matter impossible, and would leave hardly any way for a reconciliation.

It would be very desirable that you should convey, if you can, these considerations to Cowley, in order that he might, in case of need, press them upon the Emperor, and urge upon him strongly that his own personal interest as well as that of both